Second-quarter earnings beat estimates, while guidance is in line.

The Santa Ana, Calif., marketer and outsourcer earned $25.9 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ending June 30, compared with earnings of $11.5 million, or 8 cents a share, last year. Revenue rose 11% to $5.72 billion. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $5.73 billion in the 2004 quarter.

Ingram, which is viewed as a proxy for technology demand, said second-quarter operating profit and net income were the highest second-quarter levels in four years, while sales were higher than any second quarter since 2001.

Ingram expects to earn 16 cents to 19 cents a share on revenue of $5.7 billion to $5.9 billion in the third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been forecasting earnings of 18 cents a share on revenue of $5.84 billion.

"The guidance reflects solid sales growth of 9% to 13% over the third quarter of last year and sequential growth generally in line with the seasonal patterns we have experienced historically," the company said. "Demand has been generally stable in all of our regions. We expect competition in North America to remain intense in the short term, yet we're confident that our new customer programs and growth initiatives will give us a market advantage when fully implemented."